Unfragmented Land

Unfragmented areas are blocks of land that have no significant human impact and are not crossed by any frequently used roads.  Many species of wildlife avoid the presence of humans.  As a result unfragmented blocks are important for wildlife, biodiversity, and forest management. Fragmentation is one of the two leading threats to wildlife and ecosystem function according to the Wildlife Action Plan published by New Hampshire Fish and Game in 2005.

The map below shows all large blocks of minimally disturbed natural areas in Eaton.  These areas are at least 100 acres in size, greater than 200 meters wide, and exclude all developed and agricultural areas such as crop, hay and pasture lands.  Clicking on any of these blocks will provide information about their size, amount of wetland and open water, and their level of connectivity. The connectivity level measures how easy it is for animals to move through the area and how important the area is for facilitating species movement between areas.

The Upper Saco Valley Land Trust also mapped unfragmented blocks of land in Eaton as part of the natural resource inventory for their service area.  These are shown on the map below.